Thursday, June 14, 2012

The Drug War hysteria continues. Remember crack cocaine and how every baby born to a crack addict would be a worthless throw-away to society? Or how anyone who used methamphetamines would be hopelessly, immediately addicted?

"Bath salts" is the new hype. In Pulaski County, Mo., this fella — Devon Michael Cardin, 20 — is charged with felony resisting arrest, and it's all because of evil, evil, bath salts. From a sheriff's office news release:

(The) subject who had failed to appear in court on a felony charge of receiving stolen property. Since he had failed to appear the warrant was a no bond allowed warrant. The additional officers were included because he had fled into the woods behind the home the first time the deputies attempted to serve the warrant.At approximately 7:33am on June 8, 2012, the deputies and Troopers confronted the suspect inside the home and the suspect immediately assaulted the officers. He was subdued with the aid of a Taser unit. The suspect appeared to be under the influence of a mind altering drug such as Bath Salts.During the fight one Trooper sustained a minor wound to his arm.

Winston Riley, 27, robbed a woman in the elevator of a Connecticut casino. After being caught, he confessed to cops.

But the waking Riley didn't do it, or so he attorney says. According to the Norwich Bulletin:

(Defense attorney Nicholas) D’Amato said he has prepared a “medical defense” that relies on Riley’s history of sleepwalking. D’Amato, of the Bridgeport-based firm Tina Sypek D’Amato LLC, said he has already spoken to Riley’s family to confirm he has been sleepwalking since he was a child.

“It is the first time we’ve encountered this,” D’Amato said. “This is a legitimate medical condition."

D’Amato plans to argue that Riley wasn’t feeling well and had napped in his car on the morning of the incident. Riley was actually woken up by the woman in the elevator, running away in confusion and fright, he said.

D’Amato said while he has anecdotal evidence, he is in the early stages of gathering medical records in his attempt to gather proof and convince prosecutors they should take the claim seriously.

“This is not going to be an easy defense to present,” D’Amato admits. “We really have the burden to prove this. The prosecutors are not going to drop the case because we say so.”

The Centers for Disease Control (used) the "apocalypse" as the teaser for its emergency preparedness blog. It worked, attracting younger people who might not otherwise have read the agency's guidance on planning evacuation routes and storing water and food.

(Now) chatter had become so rampant that CDC spokesman David Daigle sent an email to the Huffington Post, answering questions about the possibility of the undead walking among us.

"CDC does not know of a virus or condition that would reanimate the dead," he wrote, adding: "(or one that would present zombie-like symptoms.)"

That's it. If the feds say there is no zombie virus, there is a zombie virus. We are so hosed. We're moving here.

Dawson won a daytime Emmy Award in 1978 as best TV game show host. Tom Shales of The Washington Post called him "the fastest, brightest and most beguilingly caustic interlocutor since the late great Groucho bantered and parried on 'You Bet Your Life.'" The show was so popular it was released as both daytime and syndicated evening versions.

He was known for kissing each woman contestant, and at the time the show bowed out in 1985, executive producer Howard Felsher estimated that Dawson had kissed "somewhere in the vicinity of 20,000."

"I kissed them for luck and love, that's all," Dawson said at the time.

He reprised his game show character in a much darker mood in the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger film "The Running Man," playing the host of a deadly TV show set in a totalitarian future, where convicts try to escape as their executioners stalk them. "Saturday Night Live" mocked him in the 1970s, with Bill Murray portraying him as leering and nasty, even slapping one contestant (John Belushi) for getting too fresh.

Plus Dawson was part of the whole "Hogan's Heroes" bunch in the 1960s, making it OK to laugh at Nazis.

(The sheriff) says several witnesses watched as the man made an obscene gesture and the woman opened fire around 8 a.m. (on May 15).Authorities say the woman called 911 after using all her ammunition and told them she shot her ex-husband.

(Huckabee), the winner of the 2008 Iowa caucuses, remains one of the most popular and well-recognized conservatives nationwide, and his decision not to launch a second presidential run removed what might have been Romney’s toughest competitor on the road to the Republican nomination.

Thus far, most GOP strategists assume that the urgency to defeat President Obama will negate any conservatives’ thoughts about staying home in November. Romney’s primary concern over the next five months, this dominant line of thinking goes, is to make headway with the narrow slice of the electorate who can be won by either candidate.

With that in mind, Huckabee backers are quick to draw attention to the former Arkansas governor’s affable demeanor, lack of pretention, and his up-from-the-bootstraps personal story, all of which might soften Romney’s image and make the GOP ticket more relatable to blue-collar independents.

Or it could just piss off social conservatives who already think Romney is nothing but a light-skinned Barack Obama (the people who run Free Republic have long been anti-Romney and keep making noises about leaving the top of the ticket blank come Election Day).

We don't think it will come to that — the Freepers' hatred of Obama runs deep — but watch out for Mike Huckabee. We were struck by the fact that in 2008 he never mouthed off about Bill or Hillary Clinton. Maybe it was the Arkansas connection writ large.

About a year ago, Donald Trump, among the highest-profile "birthers," helped get the mini-movement started. After the president released his long-form birth certificate, Trump abruptly changed subjects:

"The word is, according to what I’ve read," said Trump, "that he was a terrible student when he went to Occidental. He then gets into Columbia; he then gets to Harvard. ... How do you get into Harvard if you’re not a good student? Now maybe that's right or maybe it’s wrong, but I don't know why he doesn’t release his records."

Of course, he was editor of the Harvard Law Review. Not bad for a guy who allegedly faked his way through school.

"A road ranger saw a naked man chewing on another man’s face and shouted on his loud speaker for him to back away.Meanwhile, a woman also saw the incident and flagged down a police officer who was in the area.

The officer, who has not been identified, approached and, seeing what was happening, also ordered the naked man to back away. When he continued the assault, the officer shot him, police sources said. The attacker failed to stop after being shot, forcing the officer to continue firing. Witnesses said they heard at least a half dozen shots."

The coppers are blaming cocaine, of course, because they don't want us to know the truth.

Eugene Polley invented a little thing called the remote control back in 1955 for Zenith. Before his gadget became the norm, people actually had to get their asses out of the chair or off the couch to change the channel (back in L.A. in the pre-cable days, we had five, count 'em, five channels to enjoy).

As a result, asses weren't so gargantuan, and channel-flipping wasn't so fun.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Addie brought cupcakes from the Cake Pop Company, so all is good with the world. First day back at the Paragraph Factory and people have been nice. Terra brought roses and clematis from her garden. Even got a hug from Joel, the Man Known As Gridiron. What have I done to deserve this?